WHan holy ordinaunces and thynges of Pryce / are to be ministred in the congregation / it is conuenient (welbeloued audience) to geue instruction or informacion therof: As is this holy or der / and state of matrimony: For the which cause we are here assembled and gathered to gether now at this present time: And namely for this entent and purpose / to couple ād ioyne these .ij. par sōs to gether / by the vertue and strēgth of holy matrimony which is geuen to man and woman here in thys presente lyfe / that they shuld obserue kepe and vse it / after the ordinaunce and instituciō of God. And for asmuch as both you (welbeloued brother and syster) are cō me hither with one harte / and one minde to receyue this holy Order and honourable state of matrimony / and god lye lyuing. It shalbe necessary for you / to receyue it after Gods ordynaunce / and according to his institucion. Or els were it better that ye nev{er} receyued it. For although that matrimony be an holy thing of it selfe / (as are all ye ordinaunces of God both holy honourable [Page]and good) yet who soever haue receyved it / not holyly, it is not holy vnto thē: As Paule sayth. Ad Titū primo. Omnia munda mundis & ce. That is all thynges are cleane to them that be pure and cleane / but vnto the pollutyd and vnfaythfull is nothinge pure nor cleane: For it is lyke in matrimony / as it is in other holy sacramentes.⟨matrimony called A sacrament⟩For as he that receyueth the body and bloude of Chryst / vnworthelye / is gyity of the body and bloud of Chryst, euen so who soeuer receyueth this holy state of matrimony vnworthely, receyue it to their owne destruction. But to avoyde the occasion of evels that doth growe amō ge the people for lacke of knowledge and good informaciō / I shall therfore (god wyllinge) shewe vnto yon / even as the holy Angell Raphael shewed to Tobis as howe he shulde mary: As it doth appeare in the .vi. chapter of the boke called Tobias: Where the Angel councel lyd Tobias to aske of his kinsman called Raguel his doughter Sara to mariage. And he (sayd the Aungel) shal geue hyr vnto the. Tobias made answere to the Angel and sayd / I vnderstāde [Page]that she hath bene maried to .vii. husbādes / and they are all dead: And as I haue heard. The deuell slewe them: wherfore I am afrayd lest such thinges happen vnto me. Then sayd the Angel Raphaell vnto me: Heare me / and I wyll tell the of whom the deuel hath powr. Namelye they that receyue mariage of such a fasshion, that they shut God out from them and from their hartes. And gyue themselues to their owne lustes / euen as it were an horse or a Mule / wc haue no vnderstondīg: vpon such hath the deuell power. But take thou the mayde in the feare of the lorde / and more for the encrease of Godly liuing, and desyre of chyldren / then for any fleshly lust. And then shalt thou be blessed and holy chyldrē shalbe borne of you. Marke here gentyl people the most excellent and Godlye councell of the Angelycall sprete sent of God to this holy man, for the erudicion of all mankinde / to know and decerne the pure and cleane lyuinge / from the fylthy and vncleane liuīg. Yet gentell people let not this be a discomforte vnto you that are maried already / but rather reioyce that god hath [Page]openned it nowe vnto you by his elect and chosen, and lett it be to you an ensample of Godly learning / and an occasion of thankes geuing: Dyspayre not but rather amende / for to the amendement / God hath promised mercy. And nowe to oure purpose I do intende to procede after supplicacion and prayer made vnto God. For the which I take auctoritie of saynct Paule. Prima ad Timotheum secundo, where he sayth I exhorte you that before all thinges prayers / supplycacions / intercessions and geuing of thankes be hadde for all men / for kinges / and all them being in auctoritie, for that is good and acceptable in the sight of God / which will haue all men saued / and come to the knoweledge of the truth.
¶ Sainct Iames the holye apostle in his .v. chapter sayth. That the prayer of a rightuous mā / avayleth much / if it be feruent. Now gentill audience seing the prayer of one man profiteth so muche: we shal not doubt / but that all our prayers shall take effecte and place.
Wherfore that these two persons may haue ye more grace to receyue this holy [Page]sacramēt, & I likewise to minister ye same. I hartely desier you all to helpe vs with your prayer. Our father & cete. Now I do intende with Gods fauour and your pacience / to speake here of .iij. thynges necessarye to be spoken of / for our purpose at this time. Fyrst I shall shewe you: By whome this sacramente of matrimony was instituted and orde nid: Secondly. For what cause it was instituted: Thyrdely. What thing is figured by it. And fourthly: What commodite commeth of it.
As concerning the fyrst it was ordeyned and made not by man / neyther by Plato nor Aristotle nor yet by Moyses or any of ye Prophetes, but by God him selfe creatour / and maker of al the whole world. Wherfor it foloweth cōsequently, that matrimony must nedes be holy / honourable / and Godly / for asmuche as God himselfe is the auctour of it. Cursed then be all they of what estate or degree soeuer they be / that think Matrimonye an vncleane thinge / or a fylthy act. Seing God hath instituted and was and is the auctour of it: yea ād that in paradise in the beginning of the [Page]worlde. For whan God had made māhe sayde thus. Non est bonum hominē esse solū. That is to saye: it is not good for man to be alone. But let vs make him an helper lyke him selfe. Marke gentel frendes the words of God where as he sayth / It is not good for man to be alone: Ergo, it is euell for him to be alone: It was not wtoute a greate mistery that Paule sayth to Timotheus. It is the doctrine of deuels to deny Matrimony / seing that God the creatour and maker of man said, it was not good for man to lyue alone. Paule ourste not enterprise agaynst these wordes But sayde .i. Cor. vij. Melius est nubere quam vri. It is better to mary than to burne. But now to our purpose, god sayde it was not good for man to be alone / and therfore he made him an helpe, that is to say / a woman, and not an other man. It foloweth therfore that a woman is a greate helpe to a man / & man is a greate helpe to woman / by reson wherof / woman ought to be with man / and on the other parte / man with woman: But how? Notin fornicacion aduoutry and whoredom: but in holye [Page]wedlocke / after gods holy ordinaunce. Thus I say / whan GOD had made man / he made woman also / but not of the slyme of the earth, of whiche he had made man, But the woman was made of one of Adams rybbes: Wherby we maye perceyue and vnderstonde / that nothinge ought to be more deare vnto man, than his wyfe: Nothing more ioy ned / more stedfastly knyt vnto him / as it dothe appeare ryght well by Adam. Whyche / as sone as God had brought this woman vnto hym / by and by hys harte was kindled with perfect and natural loue toward hyr. And sayd: This is now a bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. And thus I say [...]he was naturally enclined to loue hyr: And a good cause why, for ye text saith god brought the woman to the man. Now ye know ryght well that when god doth bringe the woman to the man / that is to sayet The man ād the woman are couples and Ioyned together by Gods Ordinaunce. Than must there be nedes perfyteloue / concorde / peace and vnitie betwene them. And contrary wise / when God bryngeth them not to gether / but [Page]that they mary for riches sake / or for bodely pleasure / then is ther continual de bate / strife and envy betwene them. As we right well perceyue by dayly experyence.
Now after that God had brought this woman vnto Adamand that his harte was sure knit in true Loue towardes hyr. Then sayd God these wordes that followe.
Propter hoc relinquet homo patrem & matrem & adherebet vxori sue & erunt duo in carne vna. That is: For womans sake, shall man forsake bothe father, and mother, and cleaue vnto his wyfe, And they shall be .ij. in one fleshe. These wordes were not onely spoken of God the father in the olde testament but are rehearsed also agayne of Christ his sonne in the newe testament / as ye may rede in the .xix. of Mathewe. But what meaneth this where as the texte sayth. They shalbe two in one fleshe? Euen truely this. That they two beinge made one by Gods ordinaunce / shul dedo all thinges in the lorde / with one harte: and with one minde / being voyd of all strife and debate. And therfore doth [Page]Chryste call them two in one fleshe (as who sayth) they are of one harte of one minde in all Godlynes.
Ferthermore Chryst dyd not onely cōfirme this ordinaunce / (I meane matrimony) with his wordes / but also heād his mother did resorte vnto a mariage in Cana Galilee. Ioānis. ij And honoured it with godly presence / where as he wrought the first myracle that euer he did / in chaūging water ito wine. Thus gentell people / fyrst ye se that GOD is the auctout of it. Secondly Chryst confirmed ād honoured it with his presence. Besides ye his holy apostle Paule doth laude and prayse it, saying: Hebre. xij. Honourabile connubium in omnibus, & thorus immaculatus. That is: Let wedlocke be had in prire in all pointes / ād let the chamber be vndefiled. Let vs therfore hereafter honoure wedlocke / prayse it and laude it / & haue it in great reuerence and regard as Gods ordinaunce ought to be had. And as we haue estemed and regarded now of a long season mans inuentions and tradicions farre aboue Gods holy lawes / euen so let vs take mens dreames [Page]as they be / and let Gods moost holy ordinaunces stande in their place as they ought to do.
The causes why matrimony are instituted are these: First sens the beginnig of the worlde, God hath created & doth daylye create both menne and women, to whome he doth attribute and geue a naturall desier and inclinacion to be frutefull and to get and bring furth a thig like vnto them selfe: agaynst the whiche naturall desier or inclynacion no man ought to scryue / but they that haue the gift of chastitie only / as for an example. God at the beginning made and created all thinges with his holy worde / to encrease and to be frutefull: As when he sayde. Germinat terra herbam virentem. Let the earth bring furth grene grasse. This was not spokē that the earth shulde be fruteful at the beginning only / but that continuallye / from time to time it shuld be fruteful / as ye se yerely the feldes and medowes / vestured with grene grasse / and flowres sprīging at time conuenient styll by the vertue of the same worde. Euen so God created not man at his first creacion only [Page]to be frutefull but yt he shulde be frutefull by the vertue of the sayde worde / at his first creacion, so long as the nature of man did continewe. And as it is impossible for man / to commaunde the earth / not to bring furth grasse / or to be frutefull. Euen so is it impossible for man eyther with vowes / lawes, or constitucione / to bynde the nature of man to be vnfrutefull: For likewise as it is naturally geuen to a tree / first to spred his bowes then to bud / and so to bring furth frute euery yere at conuenient season: Euen so is it geuen naturallye to man to be ioyned to woman / and so to beget furth frute like himselfe. And frō this naturall lawe is no man deliuered of what estate and condicion soeuer he be except onely they vnto whome God hath geuen the gyft of chastitie. Nowe who soeuer perceyueth in himself that he hath not this hygh gift of chastytie / he must obey the wyll of God / and vse that remedy which god hath ordeyned for that purpose / that is to be ioyned to a woman: which may not be done in adultery or whoredome / but in holy wedsocke / according to saynet Paules doctrine [Page]i. Cor. i. Where as he sayth. Propter fornicationem autem vnusquisque suam vxorem habeat / & vnaqueque virum suum habeat. That is: To avoyde fornicacion / let euery man haue his wife and euery woman hir husbād For if a man myght haue abused euery womā after his own pleasure / thē shulde there haue bene no peace / cōcorde nor vnitie among the people but all malice debate as we se manye tymes one man fall out wyth an other for harlottes sakes. Neyther shuld yt childrē haue bene brought vp in any good nurture or godly lyuyng Ferthermore they shuld not haue knowē their fathers nor yet their fathers shulde haue knowē them: now to avoyde all these euels. God did instytute holy matrimony. And as the text sayth. Masculum & feminam creauitillos. That is: He made thē man and woman: As who sayth: One man sufficient for a woman / and one woman sufficient for one man: whiche shulde be ioyned together in holy wedlorke: & so to bring vp the frute of their bodyes in godly doctryne and in ye feare of the lorde. Now / the thyrde thing [Page]that I promised you to speake of: Is this. To shew vnto you what thing is figured by this holy matrimony: truely euen this. The great mistery betwene Christ and his deare spowse, which is the congregation of his elect people: Wherfore it must nedes folowe. It is an holy and godly thing / in asmuch as it doth figure and represent vnto vs ye mistery which is betwene Christ & his congregation. Therfore we will compare the circumstaunces of matrimony vnto the mistery figured by it, and then shall we sone perceaue howe they agre in all thinges: and how the one do the represent the other.
First in wedlocke the man forsaketh both father and mother / and cleaueth vnto his wife. Euen so hath christ the sonne of God done. Whiche although he could not be separated from god yt father, but was alwayes one god with him. Yet he semeth to forsake him for a ceason / when he toke vpon him oure nature of the virgin mary / for this intent to ioyne and marye vnto him the congregation of his electe people / according to his promes made in the .ij. chapter [Page]of Osee the prophet. Sponsabo te mihi in sempiternum & cetera quesequuntur. Thus wyll I mary the vnto mine owne selfe / for ev{er}more: Yea euen to my selfe will I mary the: In rightuousnes / in equitie / in louing kindenes / and in mercy in faith also / I will mary ye vnto my selfe: and thou shalt knowe thy lord and spowse. And thus vnto his wife doth he stedfastly cleaue, that is christ to his congre gation: Neuer forsakig hir / but still abyding with hir: As he sayth in Math. xxviij. Ecce ego vobiscum sum vsque adcōsūmacionem seculi. That is: Lo / I am wyth you euen vnto the ending of y• world: Also y• woman was called a bone of the mans bones, ād flesh of his flesh / and was made of the man. Euen so what soeuer the cōgregatiō of faithfull people hath / she hath receyued it of hir husbonde christ, and thorow Christ as Iohn sayth. Et de plenitudine eius nos omnes accepimus, gratiam pro gratia / quia lex per Moysen data est / gratia & veritas per Iesum Christum. That is: This is he of whose haboundaunce or fulnesse / all we haue [Page]receyued grace for grace, or fauour for fauour that is to say: For the fauour yt god hath to his soune Christ / he geueth vnto vs his fauour & good wil / as a father to his sōnes. Farthermore although yt man and woman are twaine / Yet by holy matrimony they are made one flesh. Euen so Christ and his spowse the congregation are but one: Christ is the head / and they are the membres: As sainct Paule sayth. Rom. xij. Ita multi vnū corpus sumus in Christo.
We being many are one body in christ. And in the .i. Cor xij. Vos estis corpus christi. Ye are the body of christ. And thus christ and his congregation are vnite and knyt together in one. Also betwene man and wyfe all things are comon: euen so is it betwixt christ and his congregatiō: we are partakers of his goods / and he hathe bene partaker of our euels: in so muche that as he hath taken vpon him our sinne / & ouercome death and hell for out sakes. And thus hathe he payde our raūsom, agayne we haue by him mercy / grace & remission of sinne and euerlasting lyfe. And thus is sainct Paules saying fulfilled. [Page]i. Cor. i. Factus est nobis sapiētia & iusticia & sanctificacio & redēptio. He is our wisdom / our rightuousnes, our santcilicaciō and redempcion Thus do ye well perceyue that we of our selues haue nothing but sinne and dampnacion. And by Christ we haue mercy and lyfe eternall. Vt qui gloriatur in domino glorietur. He yt reioyceth let him reioyce in the Lorde. Also an Imury or displeasure done to the wyfe / is done also to the husbonde. Euen so is it with Christ and his wyfe: As it maye well be proued. Acto. ix. Where it is written, howe Paule thorow a blīde zele persecuted christes mēbres. Therfore Christ sayd vnto him. Saule, Saule: Quid me persequeris. Saule, Saule, why doest thou persecute me. In asmuche as he persecuted Christs membres he persecuted christ: therfore sayde he, why doest thou persecute me? And this is it / which he sayth. Math. 25. quam diu fecist is vni de his fratribus meis minimis, mihi fecistis
In asmuche as ye haue done it / to one of the leste of my brethern, ye haue done it vnto me. The husbonde [Page]and the wyfe do conceyue no chyldrē / but by enbracing one the other (Thinke none vncleanes in my wordes gentell people / for it is none: Wedlocke is honourable in all thinges) Euen so the congregation bringeth fourth no frute at all / but by the enbracing of christ her husbonde: which is thorowe truth and fayth. For as saynet Paule sayth. Roma. xiiij. Omne autem quod non est ex fide / peccatum est. For what soeuer is not of fayth, the same is sinne. Therfore to beleue Christ / is to embrace him / that is / to cleaue vnto hī onely: And to forsake all other. And to worke after that fayth / is to beget an holy chylde / and to bringe fourth good frutes.
¶ Also the man is head of the woman, as the wordes of God do playnlye proue, whiche he spake vnto Eue. Gen. iiij Thou shalte bringe fourth the frute of thy wombe with great payne / ād thou shalt be vnder mans power / and he shal beare rule ouer the. Lo / here ye heare Gods ordinaunce / that the woman muste be in subiection to the man: Euen so is Christ lord and head of his wite the [Page]congregation, and she muste be obediēt and subiect vnto him / to obey his godly wyll and pleasure.
Neuertheles although the man be heade ouer ye woman, yet he ought to consider and beare the wekenes of his wife, according to saynet Peters exhortacion / which exhorteth the man sometime to geue honour to the woman / as vnto a frayell vessell / and so to beare her wekenes: For euen so doth Chryst suffer the wekenes of hys congregation and people often times. Saynet Paule also describeth both the husbandes office and the wyfes the .v. chapter to the Ephesians. And there he sayth that it is a greate mistery or a greate sacrament betwixt Chryst and the congregacion. And for what intent I praye you dyd he write this? Truely euen for this cause / that the husbande and the wife coupled together by holy matrimony shul de ende [...]er them selues / by all meanes to expresse in their lyuinge that thinge / which is figured by thē. And that their might be suche a true vnitie / cōcorde / peace, fayth loue / and continuaunce in the same betwene them, as is betwene [Page]Christ and his elect congregacion.
Thus perceyueye well gentell audiēce, what a godly state of lyuing matrimony is: and what a great mistery betwixt Christ and his churche is sigured by it. Therfore I say it shall be your duties on both parties / to endeuer ād enforce yourselfes so to frame and order your lyues / that there may be suche loue and concorde betwene you / as is betwixte Christ, and his deare spowse the congre gation of the faythfull.
Nowe to the fourth and last: The whiche thing done, ye shall se what commodite shal come of it. First God him selfe sayth / that he delyteth in that wedlock, where as the man and the woman agreeth / as it is afore rehearsed. Eccle. xxv. Thre thinges there are that my sprete fauoureth: which be also allowed befor God and mē. The first is vnitie of brethern. The .2. is loue of neybours and the .3. man & wise that agre well together. Now they that lyue thus Godly / and quietly / and are at peace in their cōscience / then wyll God sende them frute of their bodies: which they must brin ge vp in all Godlynes and in the feare [Page]of the lorde: and they that thus do / shal haue a ioyfull and a quiet conscience / in asmuch as they lyue after Gods ordinaunce, and not in lechery, nor adultery but in holy matrimony. Where as they that lyue and be whormongers / and adulterers / shall neuer possesse the kingdō of heauen / as sayth saynet Paule. Primo. Cor. vi. Therfore I wyll exhorte you right welbeloued brethern and sis: tern, to walke worthely in this holy state of matrimony / accordīg to your profession, and then shall God encrease you not onely in worldly substaunce / but also in spiritual goodnes. And you sister for your parte / I shall shew you what faynet Paule sayth to his disciple Titus in the seconde chapter. Warne those (sayth he) that be yonge women to loue their husbandes / to loue their chyldren, to be wise / chast and sober: Then shall ye be called blessed / as that holy woman Iudith was / vnto whome were spoken these wordes. Iudith. xv. By cause thou hast loued chastitie: And haste knowen none other manne / but thy husband: Therfore hath the hande of the lorde comforted the / and thou shalt [Page]be blessed for euer: Lo / Iudith is called holy & blessed / because she knewe none other man besides hit husbande. And al though she was a maryed woman yet was she called blessed because she loued chastitie: For wedlocke doth not take away chastitie / but maketh a mā or woman rather more chaste / wherfore we ought highly to esteme it and haue it in great reuerence / as the holy ordinaunce of God. Now God geue vs grace of his insinite mercy and goodnes to receyue his holy lawes and godly Ordinaunces as they ought to be receyued / and that euery man and womā may walke after their vocation to ye glory of god and the prayse of his sonne Iesus Chryst to whome be all honour, laude and prayse / worlde wt out ende.